Massachusetts – Washington Free Beaconhttp://freebeacon.com
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:37:24 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5Anti-Israel Curricula Used in World History Courses Across the Countryhttp://freebeacon.com/issues/anti-israel-curricula-used-in-world-history-courses-across-the-country/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/anti-israel-curricula-used-in-world-history-courses-across-the-country/#respondSat, 12 Aug 2017 09:00:02 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=833176A monograph published late last month of anti-Israel curriculum used in Newton, Mass., public high schools has led to revelations of similar materials in circulation at other school districts in the country, the report's researcher told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

]]>A monograph published late last month of anti-Israel curriculum used in Newton, Mass., public high schools has led to revelations of similar materials in circulation at other school districts in the country, the report's researcher told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

Steven Stotsky of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) said that since the release of his findings in "Indoctrinating Our Youth: How a U.S. Public School Curriculum Skews the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Islam," he has received phone calls alerting him to disquieting curricula being used in Michigan and California.

"We turned over a rock and discovered a significant problem," said Stotsky, about his deep dive into textbooks, articles, timelines, and maps used from at least 2011 to 2015—some possibly still in use—for World History course sections on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Islam in Newton's two public high schools, which are among the most prestigious in the country.

The materials included the Arab World Studies Notebook, a textbook the American Jewish Committee has previously condemned as filled with "factually inaccuracies," "overt bias," and "unabashed propagandizing"; a timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that almost entirely omitted instances of Palestinian terrorism; and a misrepresentative translation of the Hamas charter.

Stotsky said procedures must be established for vetting all materials brought into the classroom.

"Teachers are pulling things off the Internet, and a lot of it is fine, but a lot of it not. They can't just be giving this stuff to students," said Stotsky.

He questioned the decision to teach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a history class at all.

"History is complicated enough when you are studying issues that are 100, 200 years old," he said. "You further complicate things when you add current events, and the Israeli-Palestinian issue is still politically and ideologically active."

Stotsky's report was the first comprehensive study of these materials, which were only obtained after a years-long battle with Newton administrators by an ad-hoc group of parents and concerned citizens.

Questions about the Newton curriculum were first raised in 2011, but the school district delayed turning over the documents until the summer of 2015. They only complied with those demands after Judicial Watch submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2014, and even then dragged their feet for another one-and-a-half years.

"The obstruction, the failure to respond to citizens' concerned, the lack of transparency was shocking," said Stotsky. "The fact that it had to go all the way to a FOIA request is outrageous."

An easy fix to the transparency issue, said Stotsky, would be simply throwing all curricula up on the Internet as a matter of policy.

Inaccurate, misleading, and radical Israel education is an ongoing problem at area schools, Stotsky said, pointing to a May 2017 "Middle East History Day" program at Newton North High School, at which he described a speaker as giving an "anti-Israel rant" to 150 students.

According to Stotsky, all the members of the Newton School Committee were sent copies of the CAMERA monograph weeks ago, and were asked to respond. Stotsky has been met with silence.

Ruth Goldman, the chair of the Newton School Committee—one of whose roles she said is "transparent communication with parents"—said all of the committee members received the CAMERA monograph and that a few had skimmed through it.

"You have to understand, we receive a lot of materials, and we can't look through everything. We proactively seek out things that are agenda items for the committee. We don't take up every thing that comes across our email," said Goldman.

Goldman also said she couldn't speak to the details of the case because "all that happened before my time on the committee." She has served as the committee chair since 2013, a year before the FOIA was first submitted.

"It really had all been taken care of by the time I got here. It's an old subject at this point," Goldman said. "We communicate regularly with parents. We have a transparent process at the school committee."

She wouldn't speak to specific school curriculum, but said the district adheres to state guidelines and that "history is a tricky subject" taught in a "narrative and critical framework."

Other school committee members told the Washington Free Beacon that they had not received the monograph and were not familiar with the case.

The mayor of Newton, who also sits on the school committee, was "too busy" to comment.

]]>Rep. Niki Tsongas (D., Mass.) announced Wednesday that she will not seek reelection in Massachusetts' third congressional district.

Tsongas is a member of the House Armed Services and Natural Resources committees, and she will serve out the remainder of her term. In a statement, she expressed pride in her leadership on matters related to women in the military.

"I'm especially proud of the role I have been able to play in challenging the ways in which women are treated in the military, understanding that if you change the culture of one of our country’s rightly honored bedrock institutions, you can change a country," she wrote.

She also touted her part in bringing up the female representation in Massachusetts at the state and federal levels.

"I'm proud that my election marked the first time in a quarter century that Massachusetts sent a woman to Congress," she wrote. "Since that door cracked open, the Commonwealth has elected another female member of Congress, our first female US Senator, and in my district, 50 percent of our state legislators are now women, paving the way for even more women from our state to serve in political office bringing their voices to all we value as a country."

Tsongas' late husband, Paul Tsongas, served as U.S. senator for the commonwealth of Massachusetts and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992. She credited him with inspiring her to public service, in which she has represented Massachusetts in Congress since 2007.

"It has been my heartfelt honor to serve the people of this district over the past ten years and I have been guided all along by an extraordinary role model in my late husband Paul," she wrote. He passed away in 1997.

"The time feels right most especially because of my desire to spend more time enjoying and celebrating my wonderful and growing family," she wrote.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/niki-tsongas-not-running-reelection-congress-time-feels-right/feed/0DOJ: Stolen Identification Docs Sold to Illegal Aliens and Used in Voter Fraudhttp://freebeacon.com/issues/doj-stolen-identification-docs-sold-to-illegal-aliens-and-used-in-voter-fraud/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/doj-stolen-identification-docs-sold-to-illegal-aliens-and-used-in-voter-fraud/#respondTue, 08 Aug 2017 21:31:29 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=830083Six individuals have been charged in Boston federal court for the buying and selling of false identification documents. The documents were subsequently used in some cases to allow for fraudulent voter registration.

]]>Six individuals have been charged in Boston federal court for the buying and selling of false identification documents. The documents were subsequently used in some cases to allow for fraudulent voter registration.

The Department of Justice alleges four state workers at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles cooperated with two other individuals to sell documents to illegal aliens. The complex operation involved stolen Puerto Rican Social Security cards and birth certificates. Clients would take those false documents to the now-charged RMV clerks in order to obtain drivers' licenses and ID cards, according to the DOJ:

The scheme involved several steps. First, it is alleged that Flako, the document dealer, sold a Puerto Rican birth certificate and U.S. Social Security card to Brea, the document vendor, for approximately $900. Brea, in turn, sold the stolen identities for over $2,000 to clients seeking legitimate identities in Massachusetts. These clients included illegal aliens, individuals who were previously deported, and an individual who admitted to previously facing drug charges.

After Flako sold Brea the false identification papers, Brea typically used the counterfeit documents and false identities and addresses to fraudulently register the clients to vote in the City of Boston. Then, Brea and the client brought the stolen identities to the Haymarket RMV, where Medina, Gracia, Jordan, and/or Brimage would accept cash to illegally issue authentic RMV documents, including Massachusetts licenses and ID cards. The clerks also accepted cash to use the RMV’s system to run queries, including Social Security number audits, to confirm that the identities the clients were stealing actually belonged to verifiable individuals.

The six defendants are charged with aggravated identity theft. An anonymous tip to the Massachusetts state police in 2015 initiated the investigation that ultimately led to the charges, and the Department of Justice continues to investigate.

"The investigation into the corruption and identity theft scheme is ongoing," the statement reads.

Judicial Watch reports that forgery operations that use Puerto Rican documents have been pervasive for years, and may be worsening with the U.S. territory's ongoing recession. It remains unclear how many clients the Boston group supplied with illicit documents, or how long it carried on the operation.

These charges come as President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions continue to prioritize voter fraud, even as critics allege that voter fraud is a "myth." Trump's Commission on Election Integrity has been the target of criticism and has received pushback from states that seek to ensure voter rights are protected. Last month, the ACLU sued the president over the commission.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/issues/doj-stolen-identification-docs-sold-to-illegal-aliens-and-used-in-voter-fraud/feed/0Mass. Supreme Court Rules State Officers Can’t Hold People on ICE Detainershttp://freebeacon.com/politics/mass-supreme-court-ruling-ice-detainers/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/mass-supreme-court-ruling-ice-detainers/#respondMon, 24 Jul 2017 16:48:41 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=819187The Massachusetts Supreme Court on Monday ruled that state law does not allow local officials to detain illegal immigrants and others at the request of federal immigration authorities.

]]>The Massachusetts Supreme Court on Monday ruled that state law does not allow local officials to detain illegal immigrants and others at the request of federal immigration authorities.

Federal immigration detention orders are not enough for state officers to hold individuals, according to the court ruling.

"Nothing in the statutes or common law of Massachusetts authorizes court officers to make a civil arrest in these circumstances," the ruling stated.

The decision stems from the case Commonwealth vs. Sreynuon Lunn, ABC affiliate WCVB reported. Lunn, originally from Cambodia, was arrested for robbery in October 2016 but the case was later dismissed. Lunn was kept in custody after the case was dismissed, however, because of a detainer issued by the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement places detainers on suspected illegal aliens who have been arrested on local criminal charges so they can take custody of them when they are released from local custody.

Lunn's attorneys filed a petition, citing a violation of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

"Massachusetts law enforcement officers cannot arrest people merely because someone else asks them to, even if that someone else is the federal government," the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts argued in a court filing.

The state's highest court seemed to agree with the ACLU.

"Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigrations detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody," the court ruled.

The court left it up to the legislature to change the law if state lawmakers see fit, writing that it is not the court's place to create or define a new authority for officers to arrest and detain people under federal immigration law.

The legal director of the Massachusetts ACLU, Matthew Segal, tweeted out the court ruling.

BREAKING: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that it is illegal (under state law) for MA officers to hold people on ICE detainers. pic.twitter.com/iDLE5AWcdU

"At a time when the Trump administration is pushing aggressive and discriminatory immigration enforcement policies, Massachusetts is leading nationwide efforts by limiting how state and local law enforcement assist with federal immigration enforcement," the ACLU said.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/mass-supreme-court-ruling-ice-detainers/feed/0Elizabeth Warren’s Out-of-State Fundraising Haulhttp://freebeacon.com/politics/817321/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/817321/#respondThu, 20 Jul 2017 17:16:42 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=817321Nearly four out of every five dollars that Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren (D.) reported last quarter came from donors outside of her home state, according to a recently filed campaign fundraising report.

]]>Nearly four out of every five dollars that Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren (D.) reported last quarter came from donors outside of her home state, according to a recently filed campaign fundraising report.

An analysis of Warren's most recent filing to the Federal Election Commission, which covers campaign activity during the three months from April through June, found that just over 20 percent of the money Warren raised through reported individual contributions came from Massachusetts.

Only $178,648, or 21.8 percent, of Warren's $821,007 fundraising haul came from Massachusetts, according to the analysis. $642,359 came from individuals living outside the state.

The analysis only covers contributions that were itemized on the report by the campaign, which does not have to report contributions from individuals that gave less than $200.

Warren bragged on Twitter shortly before filing that the campaign had tallied "nearly 9,400" contributions from Massachusetts. Only 2,196 of those contributions were itemized on the report.

The bulk of Warren's out-of-state fundraising came from the liberal bastions of California, New York, and Washington, D.C., which combined made up just over 30 percent of the itemized contributions to Warren's campaign.

Included in the list of Warren's California donors is Hollywood actress Melanie Griffith, who recently called for President Donald Trump to be impeached.

]]>Medical marijuana users are now a protected class in Massachusetts after the state's highest court declared that workers dismissed for positive drug tests can launch anti-discrimination suits against their former employers.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled on Monday that workers who have been fired from their jobs because of failed drug tests "may seek a remedy through claims of handicap discrimination," though it stopped short of holding that such firings qualify as "wrongful termination." The court ruled that granting exemptions to drug testing for medical marijuana patients represented a "reasonable accommodation" for employers to make.

"The use and possession of medically prescribed marijuana by a qualifying patient is as lawful as the use and possession of any other prescribed medication," Chief Justice Ralph Gants said in the ruling. "The company's policy prohibiting any use of marijuana is applied against a handicapped employee who is being treated with marijuana by a licensed physician for her medical condition, the termination of the employee for violating that policy effectively denies a handicapped employee the opportunity of a reasonable accommodation, and therefore is appropriately recognized as handicap discrimination."

Massachusetts voters approved medical marijuana in a 2012 ballot initiative. Cristina Barbuto was offered an entry-level direct marketing position with Advantage Sales & Marketing, LLC, in 2014. Barbuto informed her new employer that she was prescribed medical marijuana to help treat irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's Disease, a chronic condition that inflames the digestive tract. Although a supervisor attempted to reassure her that her prescription "should not be a problem," she was terminated after completing her first day of work due to failing the company's mandatory drug test.

Advantage Sales & Marketing, which is the 10th largest marketing firm in the country, had argued that it was an unreasonable accommodation because such a claim would force it to adopt separate policies for its offices across the country. The Court dismissed the notion that federal law should trump policies approved by Massachusetts voters.

"To declare an accommodation for medical marijuana to be per se unreasonable out of respect for Federal law would not be respectful of the recognition of Massachusetts voters, shared by the legislatures or voters in the vast majority of States, that marijuana has an accepted medical use for some patients suffering from debilitating medical conditions," the Court ruled.

Other courts have concluded that medical marijuana laws do not protect the employment prospects of patients and that it is unreasonable to require businesses to make accommodations in their drug testing. Federal courts in Colorado, New Mexico, and California have rejected anti-discrimination claims filed by medical marijuana patients.

"Medical marijuana is not an accommodation that must be provided for by the employer. Tractor Supply did not terminate [the plaintiff] because of his serious medical condition, as marijuana use is not a manifestation of HIV/AIDS, nor is testing positive for marijuana conduct that resulted from Mr. Garcia's serious medical condition," the U.S. District Court of New Mexico ruled in 2016.

The California judiciary has also denied employment lawsuits related to medical marijuana. In 2008, the state's Supreme Court dismissed a claim from a patient, saying that the 1996 ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana failed to include worker protections.

"Nothing in the text or history of the Compassionate Use Act suggests the voters intended the measure to address the respective rights and duties of employers and employees," the California court ruled. "Under California law, an employer may require preemployment drug tests and take illegal drug use into consideration in making employment decisions."

Other states, such as Delaware and Connecticut, have specified that employers must accommodate medical marijuana users in their laws legalizing the practice. The Massachusetts ballot measure, like that of California, did not address employment-related protections related to legalization. Barbuto's attorney, employment lawyer Michael Fogelman, praised the court for interpreting the law beyond the strict language of the ballot initiative.

"A court for the first time has interpreted workplace protections not explicitly stated in a voter-approved ballot measure. This ruling has great import in and beyond Massachusetts on workplace rights of medical marijuana patients," Fogelman said in a statement. "Just as society has come a long way in recognizing the medicinal value of marijuana, employers must evolve in assuring protections necessary for marijuana patients to enjoy equal treatment regarding their choice of medicine."

ASM attorney Michael Clarkson, the chair of Ogletree Deakins' Drug Testing Practice Group, said that the company is now "weighing its options" in the wake of the ruling. The company, which is in the midst of launching an initial public offering, maintains that it followed the law and is confident that it will win out in civil court.

"We’re pleased that the court ruled in our favor with regard to two of the plaintiff’s claims. We are disappointed with the reversal and remand of the remaining claim," Clarkson said. "We have not yet had the opportunity to litigate the plaintiff’s remaining claim on the merits, but we are confident that our client acted in accordance with the law. We are weighing our options."

Advantage Sales & Marketing did not return request for comment.

The landmark decision in Massachusetts could lay the groundwork for future suits. Massachusetts voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in a 2016 ballot initiative. However, the state Supreme Court noted in its decision that the recreational marijuana "initiative is irrelevant to this appeal."

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/msnbc-legal-analyst-calls-massachusetts-dem-ag-political-hack/feed/0Massachusetts Senate Candidate Challenges Warren to Prove Indian Heritagehttp://freebeacon.com/politics/massachusetts-senate-candidate-challenges-warren-to-prove-indian-heritage/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/massachusetts-senate-candidate-challenges-warren-to-prove-indian-heritage/#respondMon, 22 May 2017 12:51:04 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=778705A candidate for the 2018 U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts tweeted out a video on Sunday challenging Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) to prove her claims of having American Indian heritage.

]]>A candidate for the 2018 U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts tweeted out a video on Sunday challenging Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) to prove her claims of having American Indian heritage.

V.A. Shiva, who is seeking the Republican nomination in 2018 and has claimed he invented email, filmed himself holding a "23andMe" DNA testing kit, which he claims requires only his saliva and a "few short days" to prove if he was a real Indian. Shiva was born in Bombay, India, while Warren's claim is about having American Indian, or Native American, heritage.

"I want to challenge Elizabeth Warren to do the same," he said. "I'm calling this now the Real Indian vs. Fake Indian challenge. Elizabeth, why don't you do this? It's really, really simple."

The Massachusetts Republican Party has also released a video slamming Warren for her claims of having Cherokee Indian heritage.

Warren's claims of Indian heritage from her early days as a professor dogged her during her 2012 run for the Senate against Scott Brown. She could only cite "family stories," according to the Washington Post, of having Delaware and Cherokee Indian heritage, at one point referencing a relative's "high cheekbones."

In the video tweeted out by Shiva, Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina, question Warren's trustworthiness.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/massachusetts-senate-candidate-challenges-warren-to-prove-indian-heritage/feed/0GOP Navy SEAL Hints at ‘Path to Victory’ Against Warren Over Waning Poll Numbershttp://freebeacon.com/politics/gop-navy-seal-hints-at-path-to-victory-against-warren-over-waning-poll-numbers/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/gop-navy-seal-hints-at-path-to-victory-against-warren-over-waning-poll-numbers/#respondThu, 13 Apr 2017 18:11:39 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=755716Former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez told reporters on Wednesday that he is mulling over the prospects of launching a Senate run against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) in the 2018 election.

]]>Former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez told reporters on Wednesday that he is mulling over the prospects of launching a Senate run against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) in the 2018 election.

Gomez, who works in private equity and was previously a naval aviator before becoming a SEAL, said that if Republicans can develop the right strategy, then there is a "path to victory" against Warren, the Cohasset Mariner reported.

"It’s really making sure we’ve got a crystal clear strategy if we decide to go, because I do think whoever decides to take on this challenge there is a path to victory against Miss Warren," Gomez said.

"The nuts and bolts is that there’s a clear distinction on who is really prepared to serve the state in the capacity of the senatorship, and that’s as far as I’ll go on that," Gomez said, declining to discuss potential strategies.

Gomez emerged in Republican politics in 2013 when he unsuccessfully ran against his Democratic opponent Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) to fill the seat vacated by former Secretary of State John Kerry.

While Gomez did secure the Republican nomination, he attributes his loss partly to the compressed timeline for the special election and believes he would fare better during a longer campaign if the political environment is right.

"I’m still thinking about that thing very hard," Gomez said while at the State House to support suspended Suffolk Probate Register Felix Arroyo.

Since defeating former Republican Senator Scott Brown, Warren has been a popular senator amongst progressive Democrats. However, her approval rating has dropped to 56 percent and her disapproval rating is at 38 percent, according to a Morning Consult poll released earlier this week.

Warren's disapproval rating in Massachusetts was the sixth highest rating among all the Senators.

Because of her vulnerable approval ratings, a couple other Massachusetts Republicans are considering a possible campaign against Warren, the Mariner reported.

Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican, announced last week that he was setting up a federal campaign account to explore a possible run against Warren. Wealthy Winchester investor John Kingston has also been reportedly weighing a campaign for the Republican nomination.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/politics/gop-navy-seal-hints-at-path-to-victory-against-warren-over-waning-poll-numbers/feed/0Elizabeth Warren Raised Over $5 Million in the First Quarter of 2017http://freebeacon.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-raised-5-million-first-quarter-2017/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-raised-5-million-first-quarter-2017/#respondWed, 12 Apr 2017 13:41:23 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=754681Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has raked in over $5 million in the first quarter of 2017 while gearing up for her reelection bid in 2018.

]]>Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has raked in over $5 million in the first quarter of 2017 while gearing up for her reelection bid in 2018.

Warren's campaign account has increased from $4.8 million to more than $9.2 million, after receiving over $5.2 million in campaign funds this year, according to CNS News. In comparison, Warren only received $1 million in the 4th quarter of 2016.

A major contributor to the funds was MoveOn.org, a liberal organization that raised over $250,000 for Warren. In addition, the senator herself started selling T-shirts bearing the slogan, "Nevertheless, She Persisted."

Warren, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, has seen a five-fold increase from last quarter. The Massachusetts senator's campaign released the fundraising totals on Wednesday.

"I'm deeply grateful that you're a part of this fight — and we're just getting started," Warren said in a statement responding to the campaign totals.

As of Wednesday, Warren only has one Republican challanger, Massachusetts state representative Geoff Diehl.

"The push to bulk up her campaign account comes amid recent polls suggesting support for her may be softening among some Bay State voters," CNS News reported.